Thursday, July 20, 2017

Map of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

How
Far Did Armstrong Moon Walk? Mapping the Lunar Landing

On
July 20, 1969, Commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin landed on the
Moon. Six hours later on July 21,
Armstrong stepped out of the lunar module Eagle
and became the first human to walk on the moon. Aldrin joined him on the surface, but the two
astronauts did not walk far during the span of more than two hours.

This
map (click to enlarge) shows the paths Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the
surface of the Moon in comparison to the size of a baseball diamond. The map was created by historian Eric Jones
and is featured in the book Strange Maps:
An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities by Frank Jacobs. The book is available from the Ball State
University Libraries GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC).

“LM”
on the map marks the location of the lunar module. Armstrong placed a television camera to the
left of the module (between third base and home plate). And the yellow circles mark the location of
surface cameras. The larger circles on
the map identify craters of various depths.

For
more information about using unique cartographic resources for education and
learning, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.